Vison of Life...It speaks about my views towards what's happening around us, though many of the things represents Pune, a becoming Metro in Maharashtra,India yet most of us live in similar city life. In city day to day life all we face is problems around us; from traffic to water to slums to power supply & many more, but who has solutions? That's why the name
Vison of Life!
Sanjay Deshpande

Sunday, July 23, 2017

“Cities
have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and
only when, they are created by everybody.”…Jane
Jacobs.

So many times the wise lady has helped me with her fathomless
treasure of quotes, especially when the subject is about the city; I am
referring to Jane Jacobs, writer of ,” Life & Death of Great American
Cities”. Unfortunate is most of the time my subject is related to our beloved
great Pune city & which every day is inching towards the death, courtesy
our Mai Baap Sarkar! Well, may be the Sarkar i.e. Govt & which comes under
the names of Urban Development or PMC or our elected members, itself wants the
city that way is what now I am starting to believe. Those who may not agrees
with me they can check the news paper headlines about the city (I mean Pune
& Pimpri Chinchwad) or why take effort to even read, just have a round of
our city at any hour of the time & tell me what you saw? Roads chocked by
traffic at any hour of the time & footpaths encroached leaving no space for
pedestrians (if there are footpaths), don’t look at road surface condition by
the way & then every corner garbage bins over flowing, people jumping
signals as no one fears cops & CC TV cameras are non functional mostly,
road signage covered by faces of local so called leaders banners & if
you happen to visit any public hospital of school on way then have a look you
will get idea of the services the city offers to its taxpaying citizens. One
more thing try using public toilets if you got nature’s call on your city ride,
that’s some experience you will remember for long, I can assure! And though the
city is surrounded by serene hills (in past, I meant) yet don’t look at
the hills as now they are mostly covered by slums, outcome of our biodiversity
park policy (will cover that later)! Yes a solace is the city has some real
good parks/gardens, thanks to some good people in garden department of PMC.
Well this is scene in main city, now go to fringe areas i.e. the suburbs &
beyond, let me inform you if you are wondering whether you have come to some
village then yes you are but now these villages are part of city! Though few of
the suburbs are part of the city now for more than ten years yet they do give
you a feel of village by the roads, open drainage & no basic civic
facilities around. If you can, then do speak with the residents in the multi storied
buildings here & they will give you more clear picture of our city, right
form no water in many of the societies to no play grounds for the kids to no
street lights in place on the roads, the will tell you many stories about their
battle with the system named govt, to have even basic things like proper motorable
road to their society. And all these residents are law abiding tax paying
honest citizens, mind it!

Now you
will know why I said the city inching towards death, though still this city is
attraction of millions from not only this State but from all over the country.
You will wonder why, then reason is simple as still people believes this
is one of the best city for settling down & making career as this city
offers jobs as has good weather & environment! And
still by our super boss govt in Delhi this city is in top five cities in the
country so it has been given as Second Smartest City in the entire country (now
you must be wondering about the conditions of other cities in the country as if
this city can be tagged as 2ndsmartest
in the country)! Well, reason of this
sharing is just few days back I wrote about the villages around the city to be
merged in PMC i.e. Pune Municipal Corporation, a civic body which is like
guardian of the city. And in week’s time I am writing again like a sequel to
the write up so I am calling it as PMC, PMRDA & 34 Villages; Reloaded!
As finally the govt agreed to merge the villages in PMC but as usual in its
weird or bizarre way; because the news says in first stage it will merge only
11 villages out of 34 marked villages. Joke is even out of these 11 villages 9
were already merged in PMC some fourteen years back, so practically only 2
villages have been decided to merge in stage one! Now
don’t ask who makes such jokes in deciding policy as important as deciding life
or death of a city, rather I will ask why someone makes such policy? As the
question “why?” has many dimensions here & they are out of imagination for
any wise man leave apart common men like you & me! Well,
one main dimension (hidden) is illegal constructions & our ruler’s attitude
towards this aspect of real estate. Immediately when the news of 34 villages
part merging came on very next day State Govt published its agenda to regularize
illegal constructions. And behold even
the illegal constructions which has been made on reservations like play grounds,
gardens, roads, even Metro route can be regularized, provided the reservation
is shifted legally to other land! After reading all such news, I wonder if the
word “legally” has any sanctity left in this State because whatever is illegal
today eventually it becomes legal after some time is what we have been
witnessing in real estate! As with such news & govt itself allowing building
you anywhere as per your wish, then not taking remaining 23 villages makes
sense as in a way our rulers have given illegal entities a green signal to go
ahead & build wherever they want to build in these remaining villages. Another
joke in the draft for regularizing illegal buildings is whatever development
charges etc are due for such buildings will be recovered from the concerns
before making these buildings legal! Well to whom we are convincing about
possibility of such recoveries as the builders of such buildings are long gone
& the flat holders can barely pay their home loan installments, will they
be paying these building charges to PMC or PCMC?

As with
this latest joke of today just getting 11 villages & remaining 23 in span
of three years, question is who will be responsible for illegal constructions
in these 23 villages for the next three years? This is like, I have chosen a
smart, cute & healthy child which is an orphan & want to adopt it, is
what I declare today. But I will adopt it by taking its full responsibility
after three years & that too only if the child remains smart, cute &
healthy, in those three years is the condition I will put! I wonder who will
allow you to adopt child at such terms, but our Govt is Boss here so if it can
make legal constructions illegal then adopting norms is very minor formality
for it to mend them as per convenience of the govt! Worst part is nobody in
entire system raised the question that when every concerned person has sent report
in favor of merging all 34 villages & when even govt says yes for the merging
then, what is the point in merging these villages, in stages. So now the PMC
will have third DP i.e. development plan for 11 villages & then after 3
years we will have fourth DP for the remaining 23 villages, wow just wow! As with the track record which we have to
make DP’s & gets them in execution I am sure next thirty years we will be
busy in making DP’s of PMC with this way of merging & then Mai Baap Govt is
there to keep improving their definition of legal constructions! Now at least
some sensible person (there are few alive around yet) in the system should guide
all the concerned persons to make a full & final DP of entire PMC old limit
along with these 34 villages. Let it take one or two years but whatever we will
plan it will be covering aspect of entire & during this time span apply the
present DC rules for extended villages as per new DP. At the same time set up separate
cell in PMC to keep watch on the construction as well developments in these new
villages because right now neither PMRDA nor PMC is having any set up to keep
control on any illegal or even legal constructions here. And even if we demolish
later on so called illegal structures then the main culprits are gone &
only the residents become victim though they must book their home only in legal
structure is also a fact.

The people who are residing in these villages
expects nothing great but just basic infrastructure necessary for living in
place & they need it fast. As each of them gives this city some service by
the job or profession he or she is in & in return what this city gives them
back; is the question I will ask to every person who is part of the so called
govt & who is involved in the merging decision of the villages! It’s
said that experience is what we learn from our past mistakes but it seems our
rulers are not ready to gain any experience as we are repeating the same
mistakes again & again. As out of these 11 villages 9 were already merged
partially in PMC some fourteen years back & now we are merging whatever has
left. By deciding to merge the remaining 23 villages in stages we are proving that
what kind of fools we are. As if we
can take so important decision which will hamper entire future of this city
keeping in mind interests of just a bunch of people then sure we are hell bend
on killing this city. Because as the Jen Jacobs has said, city’s fate is
decided by the peoples who live in it & not by some PMC or PMRDA. High time
for our rulers to understand this basic fact in urban planning or else by the
time we complete our planning then it will be too late is all I can say!

Thursday, July 20, 2017

“The curse of me
and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate
action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort”.... Plato.

Plato was a great philosopher in Classical Greece and the
founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in
the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the
development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition. No wonder the
curse he mentioned which actually is attitude, is real strength of ancient
Greece which made it flourish as one of the most cultured & advanced
country in entire Europe. And what we today lack here in our country is that curse
though we have many cursed people here which do think that things can be
bettered by immediate action & one very recent is right in our Pune city
whose name is Tukaram Mundhe! Yes the guy is cursed with many things &
worst is he wants to improve the system in which he is posted. Well, that makes
him marked as a wrong man in wrong place & no wonder in service of some ten
years he has been transferred equal number of the years he has spent in service
lucrative as IAS i.e. Indian Administrative Service! Millions of youngsters aspire
for this tag & every year only a handful hundred gets through such is
charisma of this service. Though it’s not that tag but what you do with the
power which comes along with IAS tag is what defines you & Mundhe seems to
be cursed exactly here; as he do what he likes to do most i.e. action to give
justice to his job at hand!

No, I am not chamcha of Mr. Tukaram Mundhe nor I am a PMPML
employee or suppler or bus contractor, in fact whatever little I know about him
is mostly through common circles of system named as Govt as well through the
news papers. For those who don’t know Mr. Tukaram Mundhe, IAS, he is presently
Chairman (read top boss) of Pune’s & Pimpari Chinchwad’s i.e. PMC &
PCMC’s public transport system formerly known as PMT.

Before coming in Pune Mr. Mundhe was Municipal Commissioner of
New Mumbai & there too he went after illegal constructions, a subject which
every ruler publicly condemns but supports, when it’s time to act. No wonder
that he got transferred before his tenure gets completed & dumped at most
unwanted post in beurocracy i.e. chief of PMPML. I said most unwanted as either
govt doesn’t wanted anybody to get appointed at this post or the person who
joins thinks this post is useless, so no IAS guy has worked here in past for
long, rather many preferred not to join at this post in first place! But as Mr.
Tukaram Mudhe has curse of making the system better, he not only joined at
PMPML but started taking action to make PMPML better & that’s what made
many people uneasy. Especially the rulers of the city got disturbed, who
thought nothing in this city moves without their wish & public busses are
not exception to this rule! Just to explain you the way Mr. Mundhe thinks or
his attitude will share what I read in new paper when he joined… When the news came of his order at PMPML, the staff
supposedly burn fire crackers & distributed sweets & when Mr. Mundhe
has been asked about it, he candidly said, “I am amused as usually when I leave
some post then only people distributes sweets!“ I think nothing more is needed
to be said about the way this guy works! Well let’s see what was the scene of
PMPML before Mr. Mundhe took charge…

Pathetic, is the only word which could have
described the PMPML’s condition when Mr. Mundhe took the charge of it. And I am
not blaming the people working in that system as there are some sincere faces
in PMPML (even now) who are willing to work but the entire web of the system in
& around PMPML is such that one wonders whether the rulers really wanted it
to improve or not? Right
from not giving a full time capable IAS officer as super boss to holding back
the funding of PMPML every possible thing was being done by PMC & PCMC,
which supposedly have to play parental role to PMPML. Agreed the public
transport system has to be self sufficient by making profits from its operation
but then you need to provide basic infrastructure. Even a kid needs to be feed
& look after till it learns to walk on its feet & here we are talking
about an organization which is supposed to provide transportation to millions
of people. And what we got, PMC & PCMC has failed to provide even proper
place to park the busses of PMPML, making them stand in exposed weather on
roads, defeating the very purpose of reducing the burden of vehicles on the
city roads. And without giving any support financial or physical yet we expect
PMPML should serve the citizens at par with bus system like BEST in Mumbai if
not that of Singapore! Decades back there were two organizations conducting
separate public transport systems for PMC & PCMC which later were combined
under name of PMPML. This was done with a noble thought that as both cities are
like twin cities it will be helpful to have one public transport system, making
it easier for operating its routes. But it seems both municipal corporations’
abandoned this child & outcome is today’s PMPML’s condition. Poor busses,
worst bus stops, no schedule, arrogant staff (barring a few), rampant driving
without following any traffic rules (red signal jumping is most common with
PMPML drivers) & what not when it comes to bad service for the commuter,
has become specialty of PMPML. Joke is its easier for any person to travel by
public transport in a country like France where language is a problem but
travelling by PMPML was more difficult as you never know the bus comes from
where or goes to which destination & at what time as there is no time table
displayed anywhere on any bus stop, if you are standing on any PMPML bus stop,
so how you are going use its service? Worst thing was entire staff of PMPML was
behaving like they are answerable to no one as there wasn’t any one who will
establish discipline! Then there was issue of busses on contract which were
running on the will & wish of the contractor & not by the need of
commuters. Most of these busses were often standing idle as poor maintenance
& yet rent was being charged by these
contractors, in short the entire PMPML was like a huge wooden castle with just façade
in place & the core being eaten by termite which came in many forms!
Biggest joke was the marketing or promotion tag line of PMT was, “Wat pahin pan
PMT nech jain” i.e. “I will wait but will use PMT only”; means you are in a way
accepting or warning commuter that if you want to use PMPML then be ready to
wait! Except those who can’t afford to have even a two wheeler they only left
to travel by public transport in the city; resulting every road, parking area
in the city is occupied with vehicles & we have been tagged as maximum
numbers of vehicles per head in country. And then to accommodate these vehicles
what PMC as well PCMC does is increase parking norms for buildings making construction
costlier as well build more fly over, make existing road wide that’s all! And
on top of it we keep on doing jokes like having BRTS routes in place (that is
bigger joke) but not enough busses in first place. We conveniently forget the basic
principle of urban planning that, bigger roads is not solution to traffic but
proper public transport is the only answer. And now with latest fad named Metro
we think all will be ok in the city, which again is like mirage in dessert. To
make public bus transport strong is the only solution to Pune’s many civic
problems.

I think the kind of negative
things written about PMPML in all types of media are so much that, the
organization can surely enter Guinness Book Record with it! And it’s on all
such background our cursed Mr. Mundhe took over as boss of PMPML; and with day
one, as he is a man of action all hell broke loose at PMPML. Right from suspending
people under disciplinary action to not attending meetings of elected members
his all such acts were enough to rub many people (read rulers) at wrong place
& in first three months only there were talks of requests to Hon CM to
replace him! One look at PMPML’s busses, bus stops as well
depots & you will know why people avoid travelling by our public transport which
actually is face of any city! Right from making the PMPML staff a disciplined
lot to reduce the losses of the organization & most importantly to regain
the lost confidence of commuters on PMPML, many things has to be done
simultaneously. And Mr. Mundhe is doing just that. The latest PMPML App on smart phones which
will give idea about the busses time table & routes is the outcome of Mr.
Mundhe's sincere efforts. Or else just one year back who could have believed
that PMPML’s time table can be made available for commuters on smart phone
click! As usual the rulers in PMC & PCMC has their own agenda for PMPML
& which doesn’t go in hand with Mr. Mundhe's agenda so to block the funds
for PMPML to writing to Hon Cm to call back Mr. Mundhe to abusing him , every
tactics is being used by our elected members which are our rulers too! But high
time by media & people to stand with Mr. Mundhe as a strong public
transport system is the only hope left to kill the monster named traffic in
this city & for that we need cursed personality like Mr. Mundhe (just the
way Harry Potter, the cursed child was to kill Voldomart, sorry please read
Harry Potter books to understand the reference)

Unfortunately people like Mr. Tukaram Mundhe
forgets that in the govt system a person is judged by his actions & not by
intentions! And what are Mr. Mundhe’s intentions, all he wants is what common
citizen of Pune wants i.e. a safe, reliable public bus service which will make
life easier. And speaking about actions let me remind you, when the patient is
in ICU then you need to inject every possible drugs you have in the patient’s
body; as PMPML is in CICU i.e. critical intensive care unit, all we have to do
is give Doctor Tukaram Mundhe a free hand to make it survive & be fit
soonest!

Friday, July 14, 2017

“You never change
things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”…R. Buckminster Fuller.

Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller was an American
architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor. Considered as one
of the greatest minds of his times, Fuller published more than 30 books related
to science, innovation & planning. It’s people like Fuller & many
others who are real asset of United States & more than that the country
rulers listened to what these minds said that’s why today USA is one of the
most advanced country on the front of infrastructure as well innovations. It’s
unfortunate that we have minds at par with Fuller but their words goes to deaf
ears, blind eyes & dead brains of the system named govt. If you are
wondering what I am referring to then its latest (actually age old issue but
still latest as its not solved) of merging the villages around Pune city. This
city I just love for the mess or chaos it creates & loves to keep them
alive, may it be Metro or Balbharati Road or 24x 7 water supply scheme or PMT i.e.
public transport improvement, years come & went but we just keep on
discussing & considers our self as smartest citizen around if not city! The
merging of villages around PMC i.e. Pune Municipal Corporation is one such dear
subject for all segments; right from media to political parties & now it
has one more contender in form of planning authority i.e. PMRDA. For those who are yet ignorant (fortunately) then let me
give background; PMRDA i.e. Pune Metropolitan Regional Development
Authority is planning body which is formed to look after uncontrolled growth
around two municipal corporations, Pune & Pimpri Chinchwad which popularly
are known as PMC & PCMC. Now don’t ask where the development has been
getting controlled even now, as in our urban dictionary we have yet to understand
what is growth, what is development & we end up calling swelling as growth
& development of the city!

Coming back to the subject, few years back there was a movie
named “Once up on a time in Mumbai” which did good business on box office, so
its sequence was bound to come & it did come with the name “Once up on a
time in Mumbai, dobara” (dobara means again or repeat). Well on similar lines there
are many sequels of above popular issues regarding the city, though the star
cast keeps changing. Like, few months back when PMRDA got in function (many
will ask, has it?) then the very same issue of merging 34 villages (don’t ask
why 34 & why not 24 or 54?) was in lime light, then also I have wrote
about it & now nearly after one year again the same issue is there in news,
so I kept the heading same just added “Dobara” in-front of it! Now many will
ask so what has happened in one year, well nothing is simple answer but
somebody has filed a case about merging the villages in PMC & development
in these areas, in Hon High Court. On this Hon HC gave directions to the Mai
Baap State govt to file its say with some man date about what is Govt’s stand
on this issue. The Govt has already enough troubles at hand so as usual series
of meetings of senior officers in Urban Development, Revenue, PMC started &
34 villages ball kept rolling from one dept to another. In this year one more thing happened the rulers in PMC got
changed (not that it has made any effect to citizens) but it definitely matters
to the decision of merging of these 34 villages as in our country it’s not
right or wrong which decides any course of action but mood or convenience of
some bunch of people (read party) is the deciding factor! It seems that the
present rulers of the city has different plans for these 34 villages, so one
point has been raised that to make basic civic infrastructure (again don’t ask
means what) available in just these 34 villages which has been spread over
nearly some 300 sq kms, approximately Rs 5500 crores will be required & how
PMC will be raising this amount? From where this figure of development cost has
come I don’t know as I read it in news papers & it seems to be worked out
by PMC officials only.

Now one very basic
question comes to mine as well common man’s mind is, if this much amount is
being required to develop civic infrastructure in these 34 villages then if PMC
don’t have those funds then who has it? Does it means that not merging these
villages in PMC will be solving the problem of infrastructure & if yes how? As this is just
facing-off from the responsibilities by PMC, agreed which has already its
own enough problems but is PMRDA capable
of giving infrastructure to not just 34 villages but its entire jurisdiction
which spreads over 300 sq kms? And if yes then who is analyzing the PMRDA for
its outcome since the formation? The PMRDA which has been formed to take care
of development outside of PMC/PCMC area, it will have to raise this money (
just 34 villages I am referring to), so how & when this is going to happen
& till that time what residents of these villages are supposed to do? As
now more than one year PMRDA is in place & in this time span city hasn’t
stopped swelling (sorry as can’t use the term growing) but scene earlier &
later is same. Still in entire these
34 villages there are no well maintained or even basic roads, no drainage lines,
no public transport, no schools or hospitals (govt I mean), no gardens or play
grounds where the kids can play , people throws garbage where ever they wish;
frankly there is nothing we can consider
as essential for a residence. Developments are there but in bits &
pieces & mostly done by private establishments right from school to
hospitals even roads! Such developments are not enough at the same time it adds
burden on the pockets of the developers as well the residents & we except
affordable housing!

And one more thing,
have any of us ever thought kids of our maid or driver goes to which school
& who is their doctor? Well, they all goes to PMC schools mostly or aided
schools & public medical facilities, so what about such necessities in
these 34 villages, so who is going to provide it & operate them? I don’t blame PMRDA administration for this
scene as they do have wish & will but unfortunately that isn’t enough for
infrastructure building; the boost has to come from top level i.e. the Govt
sitting in Mumbai HQ named Mantralay. For e.g. water is becoming grave
factor for entire real estate industry & Pune has as many four dams which
are being used to last drop so from where PMRDA region development is going to
get water including these 34 villages?
This question itself nobody asks leave apart trying to find solution for water
supply. So where the money which has been collected under the name of
development charges or premiums while sanctioning these building has gone, is
what people are asking! And especially on the background of Baner water supply
court matter where Hon High Court has given interim stop work to sanction of
all the new projects in Baner Balewadi area; no wonder these 34 villages will
follow the same fate if we don’t act fast, is writing on wall! In some part
developers have come together & doing roads in their areas where they are having
projects & PMRDA is supporting the concept but then cities don’t get built
up by this concept, some parts yes. The need of the time is one strong force or
authority backed up with financial decision making & a realistic development
plan in place.

Then there is issue of controlling encroachments in all these
villages, as we have experienced what happens to all the encroachments few
years down the line. One classic case is present issue of ring road in PCMC of which
acquisition is now virtually become impossible because of years of encroachment
on lands reserved for the ring road. In these 34 villages also we may make rosy
development plans but if we don’t execute them fast then at present with no
infrastructure for the governing body no one can guaranty that all the so
called reserved spaces/ lands will remain available when the time comes for
development of the same. For decades we have
witnessed that first buildings gets constructed then people come in to live in
these buildings & then roads get built & the street lights come &
then the very same roads get dug & water as well drainage line gets laid
& then things like gardens, hospitals, public schools comes in picture
& public transport ropes in last if at all it comes! With all these 34
villages around PMC we still have a fairly clean slate to write a new chapter
in city planning by working reverse way of what we have been used to do under
the name of so called urban development; let’s not waste the opportunity or else
our future generation will never forgive us for this urban sin!

There is another thought process of forming a
separate Municipal Corporation for these 34 villages which I feel is not a
practical solution because these are on periphery of Pune all around. To form a
municipal corporation you need a cohesive piece of land where as these villages
are scattered all around & it will be difficult to manage their development
as well day to day administration if they are gathered as separate entity as Municipal
Corporation. Imagine one suburb or one ward of PMC is situated beyond PCMC, how
difficult it will be to lay the services like water & drainage to this part
of PMC or even to accommodate such suburb in DP of PMC; same will be the scene
if we make separate body for the 34 villages as they are not interconnected.

The joke is yet the buildings are mushrooming in & around of
these 34 villages (urban concentration camps) & people are living in these
buildings without any such facility; just because people have no choice when it
comes to getting a home in their budget! And these people are not fools who are
living in the buildings in the 34 villages as these are sanctioned projects we
are talking, built by paying every known govt charges. So, keeping due respect
for the cause when the govt can make lives of farmers bearable by forfeiting
their loans why the very govt is turning blind eye & deaf ears for the
basic living needs of the citizens who are honest tax payers of the same govt?Whether PMC merges
the 34 villages or PMRDA controls them, that time will decide but let’s remind our-self that
right now we are making modern days concentration camps with no living
conditions for the residents & for which we the system is playing role of
Hitler, accept it. But do mind this generation won’t keep silent as they will
show their revolt in voting which is unfortunately only weapon they have to
show their anguish against the system.
Though the biggest defeat of the democracy is when new elected govt
(call rulers) making same or worst mistakes than the earlier one, that’s the
curse we have!

Thursday, July 6, 2017

“If you think the water isn't important, imagine Earth without
it. Mars comes to mind. No water, no life support system”… Sylvia Earle.

Sylvia Alice Earle is an American marine biologist, explorer,
author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence
since 1998. No wonder Sylvia is so much sentimental about water, as who
better than a marine biologist can understand the importance of water! And
Sylvia isn’t the only one who has considered importance of water so that she
can compare Earth without water as Mars; our Hon High Court also thinks on same
line, “No Water, No Life”! Those who are wondering with my analogy of Sylvia &
Hon High Court for them will give little background! Last year Mr. Amol
Balwadkar (who is now elected member of PMC) & few societies in suburb of
Pune named Baner-Balewadi filed a petition about fewer water supplies in High Court.
By the way Baner Balewadi is fastest growing suburb of Pune & has been chosen
by PMC Smart City Mission as Smart Suburb. This whole part is very vital for
Pune as its entry point of West Side coming via Mumbai as well its gate way to
Hinjawadi IT Park, i.e. Home to world
class IT companies which has made Pune’s name on international map. As well
it’s in close vicinity to Pimpari Chinchwad Industrial estate & most
importantly surrounded by numbers of reputed education institutes. No wonder in
last ten years this whole area become most sought after residential destination
for migrants coming from all over the country to Pune. And all these residences
have attracted many commercial establishments which includes every popular
shopping brand as well eateries & restaurants! But with all these growth
comes the most important aspect essential for life, that is water & here
the whole problem started!

In our country it may be difficult to answer most famous
question, “Pahalae anada ya pahale murgi?” i.e. what comes first an egg or a hen?
But when it comes to our urban cities, what comes first, buildings (which
unfortunately we consider as growth) or infrastructure? Then even a school
going boy will tell , buildings comes first & then depending up on mood of
our Mai Baap Govt which comes in many names i.e. PMC or PMRDA or PCMC or Zillah
Parishad along with local body’s elected members popularly called as
“Mananaiya”, the infrastructure follows! This
is bitter truth & even the so called Smart Suburb like Baner is no
exception for the rule. Agreed if someone takes a drive on the main baner road
& newly developed high street then he will feel that how well planned this
locality is, making you think yes this is development. But behold this is just
screen, right from narrow by lanes to having no other parallel road for the
Baner road which is getting chocked under the pressure of thousands of private
vehicles to having no proper drainage system in place in many areas leave
away the things like gardens or play grounds, everything is same like any other
suburb. And yes water supply was on top of all making the thousands of
societies depending up on tanker water supply which is uncertain & for
which they have to pay lacs of rupees every year! The pinch became unbearable
& repeated pleas to the authorities went useless, finally they decided
to take help of only Messiah available in our country i.e. The High
Court!

Basically here the main issue was PMC just shrugged their hands
initially, saying they have put a condition on all the new sanctions in the
locality that water supply isn’t PMC’s responsibility. But then that’s standard
approach of all the planning authorities as well local bodies because right
from legal title to approach roads to water supply to drainage lines, they take
responsibility of nothing & they think by putting these condition on
sanction plans of the project they are done. Yet
these local bodies collect every possible rupee in the name of development
charges & paid FSI & premiums on stair case & balcony & added
taxes under name of Ses & what not from the developer. Here developer has
no choice but to surrender to the conditions PMC put on the sanction plan as he
has already invested crores of rupees in buying the land & unfortunately we
have total monopoly when it comes to plan sanctions with any planning
authority! So the developer accepts these conditions & built the project
& sale the flats by passing the responsibility to the residents which are
flat buyers, as what else he can do? Because
a developer can make approach road to his project spending from his
pocket, he even can provide drainage treatment plant if drainage lines
are not there, gets electricity power cables laid from distance but how he is
going to get water even if he lays water pipe lines & why he should pay for
that water when the residents are going to use that water! Here PMC says that they have put a condition that the
developer will take care of water supply but with same logic tomorrow our
MSEDCL i.e. electricity board will put condition to pay electricity bills
also of the residents, isn’t it? Logically
what’s developers job is to make arrangements to store the water in underground
as well over head tanks & a pumping system with proper plumbing should be
in place & for which there is water departments NOC which is mandatory to
get occupation certificate. In addition to that he has to make rain water
harvesting arrangements too. Obvious that the residents has to pay for the
water tankers as water lines if present, have no water pressure & for that
also PMC is not responsible as per the conditions apply thing on sanction
plans! And this scene is going for
years all around the city but Baner people seems to have had enough & they
went to court for justice.

It seems as usual initially PMC took it lightly as they thought
they have covered their back with conditions on sanctions & can get away
with it but high court has different logic. First is PMC has charged the
developers with development charges which are meant to provide infrastructure
& second is in many cases they have been collecting property taxes from all
of the residents which covers services such as water supply. So the court asked
what’s this for if you are unable to provide basic thing like water &
second is if you can’t provide water they why you allowed to start these
buildings in first place! Being a sanctioning as well planning authority PMC
can’t escape by just putting some obscured condition on the sanction plans
is what court said & then strait way ordered not to allow any new
construction in Baner Balewadi area unless a concrete water supply plan is in
place. Going a step ahead court has asked to stop the ongoing constructions
also which are sanctioned with such conditions. I think with due respect to Hon High Court, this is bit too
much as what’s the fault of such developers as well people who have booked in
these sanctioned projects? This country really makes me scare to start any
business may it be a liquor shop or a housing project, as any day anything can
happen & your business can be dead in minutes with one order! Anyways
that’s not the issue the main problem is now what next with our so called Smart
City?

As today baner balewadi people has gone to court & got stop
work to all the projects in the locality which on prima fascia may seems
bizarre decision but logically is correct. Because if you don’t have any
infrastructure in place which is essential for living in place, then why you
allow new buildings to construct, is the question even a toddler will ask. Now
issue is what if this trend gets followed in entire Pune region as well in
State because baner balewadi isn’t the only suburbs where water is problem. And if some court can give such decision on
basis of water supply then same can be applicable for inadequate drainage lines
or poor road network & then comes no public schools or hospitals, as list
of insufficient infrastructure is endless here!

Here there are two sides of
the coin named infrastructure; one is obvious the govt, call it PMC or PMRDA
which can’t shrug their responsibility of providing things like water, roads
& drainage & has to seriously now work on a plan for the same. Instead
spending crores of rupees for things like beautification of roads &
riverfront & launching unrealistic projects like elevated road from river
bed, first every rupee must be planned & spent for basic infrastructure
across the city. With things like GST already the revenue is going to be a
problem & if courts come down this way on property tax as well development
charges then better PMC should be braced to take the impact of lesser revenue.
And not to forget with RERA in, for a while the new projects launching will be
any way slow, which again will be dent in revenue collection! At the same time
the residents also should understand that the speed of city growing will never
match with infrastructure making speed the way it is in developed countries
like USA. We are developing country & we have limitations on financial
front which is main aspect for developing infrastructure & then lets accept
we have other hurdles too like political interference & deep rooted cancer
names corruption in the path of development. Here I want to ask a question to
all the Punker citizens, what we do when we don’t have public transport in
place; we buy our own vehicles right? Same way how many of us send our kids to
PMC schools which has worst infrastructure or send their parents to PMC
hospitals when they are ill? I am sure none of my flat holders does that &
how many has scowled PMC or any govt authority for not having proper schools or
hospitals & has thought of going to courts? No one has done it, mean we are
not depending on PMC for any of the infrastructure then why just on water we
are dependent on PMC, only because it collects property tax from us? Well in
the same property tax, including road, all things such as education, public
health services etc are included, mind it. Lets accept, water is going to
be a grave problem in future just like any other service & Pune is
lucky that here you get water at least by tanker unlike my home town back in
Virdrabha where we doesn’t have source in itself! The issue is with a proper
distribution system in place which will happen only by public pressure &
till then we have to suffer but survive! In our recent projects we have been
collecting water deposit from the flat holder so that it gets covered in flat
valuation & the flat buyer gets loan also for the same. Then we put this
amount in FD account & from that interest the water tanker bills are paid,
so the flat holders doesn’t feel the pinch every month separately for water. I
don’t say this is right solution but we are need to look out for solution about
water & stopping entire new projects will only worsen the scene as that
means no money for development works & the wheel of development will get
stuck, is that what we want as citizens?

Here media also has great role to play as high light every
segments responsibility towards city’s civic issues & keep hammering it
instead thinking of just prime spaces for advertise revenue or writing only the
stuff what people likes to read! High
time PMC as well other authorities like PMRDA also should take lesson from this
court verdict as development doesn’t means making some DP & ranking in
second place in Smart City Mission; but development means taking the
responsibility of what you have committed to your residents & deliver it to
end level.The way in RERA, developers are going to be held responsible for
their commitments to the flat holders, same way our city rulers are also
responsible for what has been committed to citizens; may it be election “jahir
nama/ wachan nama” or so called development plan i.e. DP. With this Baner water
issue court verdict, citizens now has got sword in their hand & no neck is
untouchable from this sword, lets understand this fact or else Doom’s Day for
the city isn’t long!